4 ms·

Do you recommend HMOR? I’ve never heard of it, but the Wikipedia page sounded interesting

gostsamo 4y ago
Definitely. I might not always agree with the author, but reading it is like having an intelligent and funny conversation.
MollyRealized 4y ago
Completely agree with other commenter. It's a very interesting read. I don't necessarily agree with every statement but it's a learning experience that is made exceptionally enjoyable by fantastic writing.
D-Coder 4y ago
It's very funny. Every chapter has something. From Chapter 48 (about two pages long): And when Harry had offered that hypothesis, Draco had claimed that he could remember a story - Harry hoped to Cthulhu that this one story was just a fairy tale, it had that ring to it, but there was a story - about Salazar Slytherin sending a brave young viper on a mission to gather information from other snakes. If any snake a Parselmouth had talked to, could make other snakes self-aware by talking to them, then... Then... Harry didn't even know why his mind was going all "then... then..." when he knew perfectly well how the exponential progression would work, it was just the sheer moral horror of it that was blowing his mind. And what if someone had invented a spell like that to talk to cows? What if there were Poultrymouths?
burlesona 4y ago
I thought it was quite good. If you basically like Harry Potter but find it infuriating how often the protagonists problems could have been solved in five minutes if they would have just told the adults... then HPMOR might interest you. Now, it's a didactic book, it's rather long, and you may or may not agree with the author's worldview, so whether you'll really enjoy it I can't say. But it's very well-written and in some ways tells a more "believable" Harry Potter story than the originals.
- hiptobecubic 4y ago
  I feel like basically the only way in which the original Harry Potter story is more believable is that in the original story, almost everyone is impressively thoughtless
- Amezarak 4y ago
  Well, in HPMOR, Harry discovers at the end he would have solved a quite major problem very early on if he had bothered to inform Dumbledore of some extremely important facts regarding Professor Quirrel.
chanbam 4y ago
I wholeheartedly recommend it
nanomonkey 4y ago
It is good, but loooong. I would suggest the audio-book for a painless experience.
_dain_ 4y ago
no it's terrible, see: https://danluu.com/su3su2u1/hpmor/ https://danluu.com/su3su2u1/hpmor/
- savingsPossible 4y ago
  I liked reading HPMOR and I am enjoying this "rebuttal" as well. Especially the first few chapters, because there were more attempts at science explanation in HPMOR's initial chapters.
- gostsamo 4y ago
  Actually, I agree with lots of the stuff said by the reviewer, but most of them are not such dealbreakers for me as they are for him. At least I read the book as having fun with all the gaps in the wizard world and the personal fantasies of the author are on the back burner.
  - beeboop 4y ago
    The reviewer is seemingly an extremely bright and well educated person and also seems to be more familiar with most of the concepts introduced in the books than the original author. The reviewer also an educator and it makes sense that Eliezer's ham-fisted attempts to teach through writing would be annoying to him.
    - brazzy 4y ago
      The critique goes deeper. This is where it's most on point: "So I wonder- is this story ACTUALLY teaching people things? Or is it just a way for people who already know some of the material to feel superior to Hariezer’s many foils?" Actually that's exactly what rubs me wrong about the entire "rationalist community". A lot of it is convoluted ways for people to congratulate themselves how much smarter than everyone else they are.
- beeboop 4y ago
  Thanks for linking this - I've read HPMOR half a dozen times (because it's entertaining, not because it's a great work of art) and this is a really good and entertaining discussion of it
martin-t 4y ago
Absolutely. It's probably the best book i've ever read. Describing it as a Harry Potter fanfic is technically accurate but really doesn't do it justice. It's basically a story of what would happen if an extremely smart, educated and technically minded person would do if put into the role of Harry Potter.
nestorD 4y ago
It starts terrible (I have read extracts of the first chapters to others and they don't fail to get laughs that the author did not intend) but you get used to its and the writer improves making it a very nice read by the end. Overall, I would recommend to not give up in the first chapters.
Retric 4y ago
It's ok for fanfiction, but very poor compared to literature. Just don’t actually think about it too deeply or the entire premise falls apart. The world is 100% operating on the rule of cool, and that's ok.

Definitely. I might not always agree with the author, but reading it is like having an intelligent and funny conversation.

MollyRealized 4y ago

Completely agree with other commenter. It's a very interesting read. I don't necessarily agree with every statement but it's a learning experience that is made exceptionally enjoyable by fantastic writing.

D-Coder 4y ago

It's very funny. Every chapter has something. From Chapter 48 (about two pages long): And when Harry had offered that hypothesis, Draco had claimed that he could remember a story - Harry hoped to Cthulhu that this one story was just a fairy tale, it had that ring to it, but there was a story - about Salazar Slytherin sending a brave young viper on a mission to gather information from other snakes. If any snake a Parselmouth had talked to, could make other snakes self-aware by talking to them, then... Then... Harry didn't even know why his mind was going all "then... then..." when he knew perfectly well how the exponential progression would work, it was just the sheer moral horror of it that was blowing his mind. And what if someone had invented a spell like that to talk to cows? What if there were Poultrymouths?

burlesona 4y ago

I thought it was quite good. If you basically like Harry Potter but find it infuriating how often the protagonists problems could have been solved in five minutes if they would have just told the adults... then HPMOR might interest you. Now, it's a didactic book, it's rather long, and you may or may not agree with the author's worldview, so whether you'll really enjoy it I can't say. But it's very well-written and in some ways tells a more "believable" Harry Potter story than the originals.

hiptobecubic 4y ago
I feel like basically the only way in which the original Harry Potter story is more believable is that in the original story, almost everyone is impressively thoughtless
Amezarak 4y ago
Well, in HPMOR, Harry discovers at the end he would have solved a quite major problem very early on if he had bothered to inform Dumbledore of some extremely important facts regarding Professor Quirrel.

chanbam 4y ago

I wholeheartedly recommend it

nanomonkey 4y ago

It is good, but loooong. I would suggest the audio-book for a painless experience.

_dain_ 4y ago

no it's terrible, see: https://danluu.com/su3su2u1/hpmor/ https://danluu.com/su3su2u1/hpmor/

savingsPossible 4y ago
I liked reading HPMOR and I am enjoying this "rebuttal" as well. Especially the first few chapters, because there were more attempts at science explanation in HPMOR's initial chapters.
gostsamo 4y ago
Actually, I agree with lots of the stuff said by the reviewer, but most of them are not such dealbreakers for me as they are for him. At least I read the book as having fun with all the gaps in the wizard world and the personal fantasies of the author are on the back burner.
- beeboop 4y ago
  The reviewer is seemingly an extremely bright and well educated person and also seems to be more familiar with most of the concepts introduced in the books than the original author. The reviewer also an educator and it makes sense that Eliezer's ham-fisted attempts to teach through writing would be annoying to him.
  - brazzy 4y ago
    The critique goes deeper. This is where it's most on point: "So I wonder- is this story ACTUALLY teaching people things? Or is it just a way for people who already know some of the material to feel superior to Hariezer’s many foils?" Actually that's exactly what rubs me wrong about the entire "rationalist community". A lot of it is convoluted ways for people to congratulate themselves how much smarter than everyone else they are.
beeboop 4y ago
Thanks for linking this - I've read HPMOR half a dozen times (because it's entertaining, not because it's a great work of art) and this is a really good and entertaining discussion of it

martin-t 4y ago

Absolutely. It's probably the best book i've ever read. Describing it as a Harry Potter fanfic is technically accurate but really doesn't do it justice. It's basically a story of what would happen if an extremely smart, educated and technically minded person would do if put into the role of Harry Potter.

nestorD 4y ago

It starts terrible (I have read extracts of the first chapters to others and they don't fail to get laughs that the author did not intend) but you get used to its and the writer improves making it a very nice read by the end. Overall, I would recommend to not give up in the first chapters.

Retric 4y ago

It's ok for fanfiction, but very poor compared to literature. Just don’t actually think about it too deeply or the entire premise falls apart. The world is 100% operating on the rule of cool, and that's ok.